The New York Times on Leaks, Partisanship

Updated May 2, 2006 12:01 a.m. ET

Most American newspapers, including yours and mine, try hard to separate the curiosity-driven world of reporters and editors from the ideology-driven world of editorial writers and columnists. The news and opinion departments operate under separate management, and they play by different rules. When editors like me disagree with our counterparts in opinion-land, we tend to keep it to ourselves.

Still, I imagine a lot of people on the news side of this divide were appalled by your editorial attack April 26 on the patriotism...